The Blind Side

The Blind Side is a film based on the Tuohy Family from Nashville, TN. They are your All-American family who loves God, family and football. They have two children and are a very happy family. They did not realize that their family was missing anything until one night when they met Michael Oher. Michael was an African American high school student who lived a very unfortunate life in “Hurt Village.” On their way home one cold evening, the Tuohy’s are stopped when they see Michael walking the streets alone. One thing leads to another and they find out that Michael has nowhere to stay. Michael is invited to come stay at their home and humbly accepts. After many days and nights of caring for Michael and after much thought and deliberation, the Tuohy Family wants to make Michael part of their family indefinitely. Leigh Anne Tuohy goes through all of the necessary procedures to include Michael as a member of their family and gain a new son. The Tuohy’s wanted to give Michael a better life than the one he was already living. They put him a school and started him up with football. Turns out, he was an incredible linebacker and made it all the way to play at the collegiate level and on. Through the adoption of Michael Oher, the Tuohy family was complete; and although Michael still loved and cared for his birth mother, he now had an new family to share his love with.

This film is one of my all time favorite movies. Although it is an adaptation film, I felt that the writers and directors collaborated very nicely and put together one of the greatest films of all time. The story of the Tuohy Family is filled with love and emotion and they act as role models to families everywhere. The director chose a near perfect cast to represent the Tuohy Family and was able to portray the true story of this heroic family. 

The Words

The Words is a film that is based off a writer, Clay Hammond -- played by Dennis Quaid—who tells the story of a young man and aspiring writer, Rory Jansen – played by Bradley Cooper – who travels to Paris with his wife and while there he purchases a brief case to carry his writings. One night, back at home, he sits down to write a piece and falls under a case of writers block. He opens his new brief case and tries to get himself organized and while going through the case, he finds an entire unpublished manuscript. He reads through the whole thing and realizes that what he is holding is a true work of art. He begins to type out the entire manuscript onto his computer, word for word, and does not sleep until he finishes. When he finally completes this, he signs his own name on the page. He brings the new copy of the manuscript to the publishing company he works for and his boss loves it and wants it to get published immediately. His boss has never liked any of Rory’s work and he has never had anything published before. This story lands Rory the deal of a lifetime and leaves him to become one of the most profound authors of his time. Years later and after many publications he is faced with the fate that he has been running from since he bought the brief case.

I really enjoyed this film and though it was very well written. Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal both wrote and directed this film and out a very unique twist on the story. This story, narrated by Dennis Quaid, tells the story of Rory and his journey in which he wrote. The twist at the end of the film is unforeseeable and leaves the ending with suspense.

I felt that this storyline was very interesting and the director/writers put their talents to good use. The story of Clay Hammond and Rory Jansen was very uniquely portrayed. 

Jaws

Jaws is a story that takes place on Amity Island and the small town is effected by numerous shark attacks one summer. Many small children and young teens are getting badly harmed and killed by these harmful predators. The town officials are very concerned about these attacks and set out to take care of the issue. They start to do research on different sharks and how they can stop this monstrosity. They figured out that it was a Great White shark and set sail to destroy the problem. This journey caused them many trials and tribulations and some of their town officials. Their mission is accomplished and they finally destroy the issue that was causing so much destruction on their town.

Personally, this is one of my favorite films that we viewed in this class due to the fact that I do not like sharks, however I do compliment the director and prop masters for their hard work in putting together this film. For the amount of technology that they were able to use in 1975, when this film was made, they put together a harmful creature and were able to portray the shark attacks in a very effective way. 

500 Days of Summer

500 Days of Summer is film that features the very talented Joseph Gordon-Leavitt and Zooey Deschanel. This is a story about Tom Hansen, the hopeless romantic who reflects on the past 500 days with Summer Finn. Summer and Tom start off as colleagues and then friends. Soon, their friendship is taken a step further into a semi relationship. Summer, although she likes Tom, is not crazy about the idea of relationships or boyfriends. Throughout this film we are able to witness Tom Hansen’s non-chronological narrative of his time with Summer and the flood of emotions that it brings him.

I was very impressed with this film—the production, storyline and the soundscapes that are incorporated—and after viewing it when it was first premiered, it became one of my favorite films. As I mentioned above, the story is narrated in a non-chronological way. Tom Hansen describes specific days he spends with Summer Finn and bounces around from past to present. I found this narrative very unique and thought it added a lot to the story. I also felt that the soundtrack that was put to this film helped expand on the emotions that were displayed by the characters.

I thought the director, Marc Webb, did a wonderful job with this film and utilized his team of designers and producers to the best of his ability.